POV: From homeless teenager to multi-millionaire 26 year old.

At 17 years old, Harry was homeless. He was sleeping on the streets of Melbourne and feeling like a lost cause. He is now 26 and owns a business that generates $10+ million in annual revenue.

Studio Hawk was founded in 2016 by Harry Sanders . An SEO agency that started as a vehicle to get the founder off the streets now has over 80 employees globally and works with household names Office Works and Quickbooks.

I took him back to reflect on what the first two years of building his startup were like.

Hamish: Who was around you when you started Studio Hawk?

Harry: My dad and his partner kicked me out of home when I was 17.

I was living on the streets of Melbourne, often sleeping under bridges or couch surfing.

There were two people in my corner at the time — my assigned social worker — Carly, and Graham, a retired CEO to who I owe my life-changing.

Your mental state erodes when you live on the streets. No matter how much resilience you have. It was Carly who nurtured me out of that dark place by actually caring about me. She encouraged me to join a government program called Getting Down to Business, where I met my mentor, Graham.

Graham taught me everything I know about business and pushed me to focus on growing my idea for an SEO agency.

Hamish: What did that mentorship relationship look like?

Harry: I mentioned I was applying for jobs but wasn't getting accepted, skirting around the fact that it was because of my presentation and not having a home address.

I had told Graham about my self-taught experience with SEO and that I had tried to get clients but was failing there.

Instead of helping me get a job, he challenged me on why I had failed to get clients and forced me to focus on my idea for a business. We would catch up weekly and go to different networking events together. Every networking event was an opportunity to pitch and find a client.

Even while I continued to fail at getting clients, he was there asking — "What went wrong, and what would you do differently?" ingraining this resilience in me.

"He was building my confidence up. Teaching me that I wasn't hopeless."

Hamish: What did he teach you in those early days?

Harry: Everything. But his ability to get me out there attending these events and seeing them as opportunities changed me.

"I was introverted and homeless and alone, not wanting to network. Graham taught me to get over it, that I had to go out there, meet people, and put my best foot forward."

That's what you have to do.

Hamish: And did those networking events launch the business?

Harry: Absolutely. I remember being at an event where a speaker asked for volunteers to put their hands up and pitch their business for 30 seconds. There were about 300 people there.

I didn't want to disappoint Graham, who was nudging me to put my hand up, so I got called up to pitch.

I barely got three words out, but I got a client. From standing up and saying I do SEO.

Hamish: That must have been a very proud moment. Did you want to build something as big as it is today?

Harry: No way. I was just excited to be able to afford a shared house. It was only ever about getting a start.

I remember the exact day I moved into that first house and the relief. It was one of the most powerful feelings. I bawled my eyes out that night and promised myself that I would never end up back on the streets.

Studio Hawk and my ambition for it is split into two stages — running from something and then running toward something.

Hamish: When did it feel like you were no longer running away?

Harry: It was when we had about ten employees. At that point, I think I stopped being scared I might end up on the streets again.

Hamish: How did you grow to that point?

Harry: I think we just had a unique model. More than enough people were doing SEO in the industry but were trying to eat the whole pie and service other areas of their client's business.

We have only ever done SEO, and it's the one thing we are the best at in the world. Our clients love that.

"It was exactly what the market wanted, so once I finally won our first client, referrals started happening everywhere."

Two years later, we were a team of ten.

Hamish: How did that feel?

Harry: Awful in many ways.

For a while, that relief was bridled with this anxiety that I would wake up from this dream and the carpet would have been pulled out from underneath me. I was scared of losing it all.

Hamish: What was the next big turning point?

Harry: When I hired my general manager to take me out of the day-to-day operations.

That was a strange moment but one that was in the best interests of Studio Hawk. It felt like how I imagine it feels to sell a business.

"I didn't feel important anymore. I went from working 80-hour weeks to having an empty calendar."

It was a turning point because it allowed me to focus on the bigger picture and my zone of genius, which has never been managing a team of 80 employees. That took us from being successful but chaotic — to successful, organised, and disciplined.

"Making myself redundant and removing the business reliance on me unlocked our ability to scale."

Hamish: What advice would you give me as someone at the start of their journey?

Harry: Take your time and think of it like a five or ten-year journey, not with this short-termism that is unfortunately common today.

"Everyone obsesses over what they can do in a year, and I don't think that's a good thing."

And when you get to a stage where you can delegate, do it aggressively and remove yourself from anything that's not your zone of genius.

As the founder, there is always something that you are exceptional at and that no one can do better. Don't delay focussing on just that.